Apocalypse
by Aquila Lucis Caelum
Summary: When Taylor Hebert learned to control bugs, she had killed a being comparable to God. Instead of controlling bugs however, she gained control of a burning horse that apparantly knows her better than anyone else, not to mention the other three that have almost identical powersets to her.


**I own nothing recognizable**

Emily Piggot sighed and rubbed her forehead at the developing headache that was rapidly approaching and closing in behind her flesh. The sizable stack of papers in front of her never truly seemed to thin out and now it was only growing larger from the looks of things. The reason for such a sizable amount of papers was because of the most recent appearance of another Parahuman group outside of the Protectorate and New Wave. They appeared to be a group of vigilantes and each were powerhouses in their own right, to the point where their name was already all over the Brockton despite their recent appearance and small number.

They first appeared during a turf war between the Empire and the ABB, Emily didn't truly know the circumstances behind their appearance, but Velocity and Battery had both abruptly reported that Stormtiger and Oni Lee and the fight had become all the more severe. When suddenly in a flash of white light, _he_ appeared.

No one truly knew who he was, the white helmet covering his face hid his identity truly well, his body was covered in a white jumpsuit underneath a black shirt with armor-like pauldrons on his shoulders, black boots covered his feet and a similar colored pair of pants were tucked into them with dark knee-pads, his dark hair was unnaturally spiked in a way so that it was held behind the helmet. On his thighs were a pair of holsters that held his weapons, a pair of handguns. One had a chamber similar to a revolver, but the barrel was far too bulky to be considered one, the other was a far more conventional pistol that resembled a Glock 19-11 but looked to be heavily modified. Due to the fact that both guns were far too outlandish to be made naturally it was clear that this person had access to Tinkertech of some sort.

No one in the turf war had time to admire his weapons however, as they were soon facing the wrong end of the barrel. He walked through the battlefield without being impacted by a single stray shot. His body moved with a grace that even the most skilled athletes or martial artists could never even hope to achieve. Every movement led into a squeeze of his Tinkertech pistols which landed only in places that would be sure to incapacitate them. Not a single round had penetrated lethal organs, which instantly gave the man away as a cape with some sort of Thinker power. He finished with a single boot on top of Stormtiger; Oni Lee had been the only one to escape, but not without a bullet in his right shoulder. With a sea of writhing gangsters beneath him the man finally spoke only eight words,

"I am Marduk, the first, we are Apocalypse."

After that, he vanished and Emily instantly had her intelligence department run through all sources of media in search of anything pertaining to the name "Marduk" or "Apocalypse" the only things that came up were threads on PHO talking about how a single cape had defeated the entire gang presence of both the E88 and the ABB, and the ancient Mesopotamian patron deity of Babylon. No hard details or sightings occurred of the newest vigilante on the streets of the Bay, until something happened that shook the gangs up for ages to come.

Hookwolf and Rune had been out and about and decided to target a hair salon run by Asian immigrants with a group of Neo-Nazi cronies right behind them, that was of course-before _she_ appeared.

Her body was tall and slim, covered in ancient armor and a red cloth hood. She wore clawed gauntlets and heavy metal greaves, both of which appeared to be made from solid steel. Her face was concealed by a blood red hood with gold trim. On her back was an enormous sword, almost comical in its size, were it not for the images of screaming faces imprinted on the flat sides of the blade, it lacked a cross-guard and the hilt appeared to be too small for the gigantic blade. It was questionable at first if she would even be able to swing it, but when it entered her palm the weapon _cleaved_ through anything that dared to cross it, cutting the Neo-Nazi's in areas that would let them live, but hurt like hell in the morning. She moved with a savage brutality, caring nothing for collateral damage, just defeating the enemies in front of her. Hookwolf and Rune were soundly defeated and the woman who was responsible for their defeat spoke,

"I am Bellona, the second, we are Apocalypse."

Then, like clockwork Emily had ordered her intelligence department to instantly get working on anything pertaining to the newest cape on the scene, not to mention she did her own thinking, both newer capes had repeated almost the exact same line, with the only difference being the number and the deity. Bellona was an ancient Roman war goddess and what really intrigued her was the line that both of them said, once was simply the ramblings of an insane cape, twice was when it became suspicious, but it wasn't until the third time that she was absolutely certain about what "Apocalypse" was.

There wasn't some great grandiose disaster that preceded the third, she was merely standing on top of a building with a blank black mask and a long black cloth similar to a nun's habit concealed her hair color, Glory Girl had been the first on the scene with confronting _her_ and the teenage reported that they had a relatively amicable conversation before she vanished in a cloud of black smoke with a familiar phrase of eight words.

"I am Morrigan, the third, we are Apocalypse."

Emily almost wanted to tear her hair out once she received a report from Armsmaster after she sent him to learn about _another_ new cape, this one who was clearly associated with the two new capes who appeared earlier, Marduk and Bellona respectively. Not to mention they had little to no information about Morrigan, except that she was some sort of Mover with a teleportation ability that was almost similar to Oni Lee's except it didn't leave an ash clone behind. There was no telling how many people would appear after Morrigan but no one expected that the newest cape group would place an end to a gang.

The last one appeared in front of a police department with the three biggest capes underneath the banner of the Archer's Bridge Merchants, Skidmark, Squealer, and Mush. Squealer was making like her namesake and spewing off a spree of vulgarities that would make even the most hardened sailor flinch. Her boss and colleague were silent while they were dragged in by a single man before they were apprehended by PRT response troopers, who filed a detailed report about the man's appearance.

Long black hair with bangs that reached his chin and left his forehead untouched he was bare-chested, showcasing inhumanly pale skin and hardened muscles. His legs were covered by a pair of dark cloth pants, strapped to his waist were a pair of folded weapons and on his face was a pale white mask. He stood in front of the response team before a swirling green fire appeared beneath him and a large pale horse took form underneath his legs. Then the three other members rode in, Marduk on a glowing white horse, Bellona on a dark red horse with a burning mane and Morrigan with a wispy black horse that seemed to be made of smoke. Then the pale figure spoke.

"I am Thanatos, the last, we are Apocalypse." Following his words, a series of explosions sounded through the city, all taking place in Merchant storehouses. All were completely destroyed and he finished with a single ominous phrase.

"We have come to Brockton Bay."


End file.
